i'm don lemon. thank you for watching. "newsroom with suzanne malveaux" starts right now. welcome to cnn newsroom. i'm suzanne malveaux. here's what's going on right now. the news today is the weather, of course. p if you're in the eastern half of the country chances are good the weather is intense outside. we have heavy snow stopping highway and air traffic across the midwest. it's moving toward new england. down south tornadoes ripped across the gulf coast in the past few hours, and could be more today. >> look at them. that's like two tornadoes. it's two funnels on the ground. oh, lord. look there. wow. >> wow is right. this is how people in mobile, alabama spent much of christmas

day. they were hunkered down and watching at least one tornado rip up trees, whip around power lines and just in this one spot from east texas to the gulf coast of alabama you have weather officials counting 28 tornadoes that hit ground on christmas day. now, in southern alabama right now more than 200,000 homes are without power. we are live from mobile in just a minute with the full picture of the damage there. all right. you are watching -- this is an enormous funnel cloud. it formed and touched down near interstate 165 in mobile. david and whitney sarasino were driving to see their family for christmas and realized they were headed right into the tornado. >> well, the first thing was i had asked my wife it to pick up the camera and start getting some footage of it, because i

know that the local news stations and everything were want wanting to see what was going on. at that point we just kind of drove as fast as we possibly could get out of the way. i know we were actually on i-165 northbound when i looked over to my left and noticed it was forming. instead of stopping we just went as fast as we could to get past it to get on 65 north and get off on the alabama exit to turn around and actually go back home. >> and look at it coming down. this is in southern indiana. the christmas day blizzard still dumping snow on much of missouri, kentucky, and ohio. now, the storm smashed a snowfall record for christmas day in little rock. nine inches of it made dangerous driving. several highway accidents as well. the arkansas national guard is out helping ambulances reach people in trouble there.

two deaths are blamed on the weather. one in texas and one in oklahoma. we'll bring in alexandria steele. she's watching all the storms. >> the legs on this from the severe weather to the winter weather, you talked about the historic nature in little rock, nine inches breaking the old record from 1926, dallas four inches breaking the old record from 1926. it was the worth christmas day tornado outbreak on record, so certainly substantial. here's the big picture. let's starts with the severe threat, and here you can see in eastern carolina, south carolina and north carolina, we have a tornado watch through 5:00 tonight. that watch, of course, means that atmospherically conditions are right for tornadoes to develop. it doesn't look as though it's as severe in nature, and the breadth and depth of it not as great as yesterday. keeping an eye on this. you can see all the lightning and it moved off the coast east of 95. that is the good news. we have that in effect until

5:00 tonight. on the winter side you can see here's where the snow is. of course, right along where that rain/snow line is, that's where the front is. just north of that is where the axis of the heaviest snow will be. it's called the snow speweet sp through cincinnati, cleveland and buffalo. i-90, i-70 perilous travel tonight and tomorrow. that's the time line of it. in addition while we have blizzard warnings and i'll show you where there are until 7:00 tonight, it's because not only is the snow coming down in ernest, could see 1 to 2 inches an hour, it's the winds. whether we see winds in washington or new york already slowing down travel tonight, they won't see the snow accumulation. it's the winds with this system that's a big deal. indy gusts to almost 40 miles per hour. roanoke, virginia to dchicago. we're talking a big geography in terms of the impacts of it. here's where the blizzard

warnings are in. that's for 6 to 12 inches of snow coupled with winds at 40, 50 miles per hour making it difficult to see and visibility is down near zero. that's kind of the blizzard warning scenario. there's the blizzard warning. you can see that in areas of indiana and illinois and moving into ohio. these in the pink are winter weather warnings, so we'll see that. here's the snow. 12 inches at the very least, and in upstate new york, suzanne, we will see at least 12 inches of snow. so the timing in and around western new york, we see the snow tonight to tomorrow. i know you travel a lot, and it's those big cities in and around new york and new jersey and washington, big-time travel delays at the airports. already canceling hundreds of flights because of the winds tonight into tomorrow. >> i think i got lucky being in the washington, d.c. area. one of the few people that will avoid all of this stuff, this big mess for the holiday. alexandria, thank you very much. we hope everyone is safe in travels. emergency crews are working to get the power back on.

more than 200,000 homes along the gulf coast right now. the tornado that touched down in mobile, alabama, did major damage to one school. this is the historic murphy high school. it's almost 100 years old. it was smashed by trees. it is missing its roof today. that is where christina lever worth is from our aaffiliate a wear. give us a tour of that area and what you've seen in terms of the devastation. >> reporter: absolutely, suzanne. for the most part the damage is widespread. murphy high school, the worst hit. right behind me is the baseball facility, completely destroyed. beyond that is these portable classrooms. you can't tell they were classrooms unless you can zoom in and see some desks and chairs. definitely, definitely hit hard. right here is this mangled window screen. that gives you an idea how powerful this storm is. i want to show you a few more things over here. this was a barn, but beyond na is the fieldhouse.

people sought shelter there and bunkered down there to be safe. it's a good thing they do. a lot of items flew more than two football fields into the main building pummeling plywood into the cafeteria. a lot of red tiles gone. the band hall, the roof lifted up and moved. it's tough for people here because this is a historical campus built in the 1920s. there's more than 2,000 kids that go here. the main thing people pay attention to is if this would have happened when school was in session, this whole area would have been packed with children with after school activities, any extracurricular activities. as much as it's awful to have it happen at their school, they are fortunate everyone is okay. suzanne. >> i was going to ask you that. essentially it's quite aamazing, but there are no injuries. you look at the damage there. fortunately, nobody got hurt. >> reporter: absolutely. when you saw that size of the tornado, i think everyone's

stomachs dropped. you're like i hope everyone is okay. that's kind of how everyone here is feeling. the interesting thing is i don't know if we can show you, these houses across the street not touched at all. they look perfect, and all surrounding houses in this area is pretty good for the most part. that's interesting and bizarre, all of this can happen and 100 feet away houses look completely fine. >> christina, thank you very much. we appreciate it. many americans have aadodop children from russia, but that might come to an end thanks to a acontroversi controversial bill russia's parliament. he's taking a bow. he's getting a second chance at a job he quit five years ago. japan's new prime minister making a stunning comeback. as the sound of gunfire rings out in syrian neighborhoods, the country's

military police chief has reported defected to the other side. ng. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind. ...but he'd wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. ...to help keep rocky's body as strong as a love that never fades... if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong.

in syria the military police chief has defected from president assad's government. this video shows a man identified as the official. i want you to take a listen. >> translator: i announce my defection from the regime and joining the peoples revolution because the syrian military has strayed from the core mission in protecting the homeland to become nothing but an armed gangs that kill and destroy cities and villages carrying out massacres that came out demanding freedom and dignity. >> pretty strong words. this would be one of the highest level defections in the 21

months they've been fighting. the prime minister and general were close to al assad and they also left the regime in recent months. first of all, tell us, this guy, i mean he essentially says they're thugs going after their own people. this seems pretty significant. >> reporter: well, that's right. he's identified on this tape as the general. aside from the video, we spoke with officials from the free syrian army today. they confirmed to us and helped this man escape syria and he's now in turkey. they say it's significant because of how high ranking he is. he's only the latest in a list of officials that defected the last several months including a man who was very close to bashar al assad as well as the former prime minister of syria. that was a couple of months ago as well. it seems this is significant. the free syrian army told us that they have no problem accepting up until now other military officials who may want

to defect. they say at that window is closing. they won't take mercy on members of the syrian military regime who want to defect to the popular uprising. suzanne. >> tell us who this guy is. i imagine being the chief of military police that he knows what's going on inside of the country, perhaps he's seen some of the things that have gone on when you talk about the carnage and the civilian casualtiecasua. >> reporter: that's the key question right now, how much intelligence is gathered from this man? on the face of it he seemed to be a very high-ranking official. the syrian government haventd commented yet. we haven't heard from the major general since the defection took place after seeing this tape. in the past we heard about other defections, other officials who have left syria. we don't know where they ended up after that. there's rumors in the days after the defections take place. it's yet to be seen where he will end up and what kind of intel he will provide and how

significant that is on to the rebels or to the international community in facing al assad and trying to find out what exactly other crimes his regime may have been responsible for. suzanne. >> is there a safe place for these guys to go once they defect? are they going to turkey or underground, or is there a risk to their families essentially still there and the government might take revenge? >> reporter: one of the key things we hear about defectors, a lot of times when there's rumors about officials who are planning to defect or who have defected, a lot of times we hear after they leave the country that it took them a while, that they weren't talking about it even after they left the country because they want to make sure their families were safe as well. one of the prime destinations has been turkey because a lot of contingent of the leadership of the free syrian army have been in turkey as well, so that's a prime destination cloes to syria. today members said it was

extremely difficult getting in man out of syria. they had to ferry him by scooter and took hours longer they thought it would. it was a very, very difficult and tricky operation. yes, there is a lot of fear of people that defect that what will happen to family members in syria. that's a critical concern whether it's government officials or military officials who leave the government. suzanne. >> i want to remind our viewers what we're talking p here when we talk about syria. in the past few days we're talking about at least 365 people who have been killed on top of more than 100 people killed in an air attack sunday on a bakery. when someone like this of this high stature defects, what does this tell you about the state of the rebel forces? what does this tell you about the possibility of this thing ending anytime soon? >> reporter: the news out of syria, especially in the last few days, gets worse and worse. you have diplomatic talks going on with syria.

it's the joint envoy to syria. every day the news is more horrific. each day in the last few days more than 100 people killed on each successive day including today. we hear from opposition activists and free syria army members they're gaining momentum and they're taking over more territory in and around the capital and in parts of the north of the country. it seems to suggest that assad is losing more grip on power. yet, the syrian regime maintains that are battling terrorists there. that they have the upper hand. that they will return stability to the country. what you hear on the ground there from the opposition activists is a very different picture and from the videos we've seen in the last two days and accounts we've heard, it seems that the rebels are gaining momentum in key areas of the country. suzanne. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. if you thought our political process has been painful, just imagine seven leaders in six years. that's right. japan has a new prime minister. he's facing some of the same

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once again there is a new prime minister in japan. he is shinzo abe, the japanese parliament elected him today five years after abe abruptly resigned from the job. he's japan's seventh prime minister in six years. alex reports from tokyo. >> reporter: a remarkable political comeback is now complete here in japan. shinzo abe is once again prime minister, elected in parliament on wednesday following his party's landslide victory in general elections earlier this month. he has now taken the reins and unveiled his cabinet as well,

which includes former prime minister aso who is deputy prime minister as well as finance minister. as the 58-year-old abe returns to the top post he vacated in 2007, his to-do list this time is very long. front and center is the economy, which has sputtered along in japan for the better part of two decades and is in recession once again. many will be watching to see how abe handling heightened tensions with china, as the two countries spar over disputed islands, as well as north korea, which defied the international community recently launching a rocket that skirted japanese territory. there's also japan energy policy, with abe suggesting n nuclear power will remain on the table despite ongoing troubles in fukushima. one last issue, just staying power. they have a well documented

revolving door with prime ministers with shinzo abe becoming the seventh different leader in just six years. cnn, tokyo. it appears to be a growing trend in afghanistan. they are insider aattacks. a u.s. contractor was kimmed in kabul police headquarters. this time the attacker is a woman. we have a live report from the pentagon. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart.

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car bomb exploded today outside a u.s. base in eastern afghanistan. a security guard and two truck drivers were killed and six civilians were wounded. the taliban carried out the attack which happened after a mini bus stopped at a security gate.

it was the site of a 2009 attack that killed seven cia contract oregon and a jordian intelligence officials. officials in afghanistan are learning more about a woman that shot and killed an american contractor. we want to bring in barbara starr at the pentagon. some of the things we hear about when you talk about insider jobs are the taliban dressed as women with the high jab and everything. we know this was a woman responsible for the attack. what have we learned about her? >> not very much, because the afghans have her in custody and apparently by all accounts she's not really talking. the afghans did hold a press conference and showed an iranian passport. they say this woman is an iranian national, she came from there and married an afghan and became a member of the afghan police force. none of this, again, independently verified by the nato alliance. she went to the compound with a weapon hidden under her

clothing. she wanted to kill someone she thought was important. she walked around looking for somebody and came up behind this american contractor as he was walking towards a canteen and shot and killed him. suzanne. >> you know, it's interesting, the taliban haven't been all that vocal about this one, and usually they are quick to claim responsibility. i think it's important to say that afghans also, if you look at the record, they very often will tell you that it is someone from pakistan, that it is someone from iran. it may well turn out to be it in this case, but this one seems to be one of these so-called green-on-blue incidents that is unexplainable at this point. very tragic for the american family. >> do we have any more information, barbara, about the contractor that lost his life? >> yeah, we do.

his name is joseph griffin, 49 years old of mansfield, georgia. he worked for dine corp international in afghanistan that works on police training for the afghan forces. he worked in law enforcement and was a u.s. military veteran. suzanne. >> all right. condolences to his family. thank you, barbara. appreciate it. it is hard to believe, but 2013 less than a week away. we're going to look back at all the science breakthroughs of the last year coming up. ♪ everybody well don't you know it's me now? ♪ ♪ yeah who's it, who's it huh? ♪ ♪ willy's back with a brand new beat now, ♪ ♪ yeah doin' it doin' it up! ♪ heyyy yeah, tryin' to bite my style! ♪ ♪ heyyy yeah, how you like me now? ♪ ♪ na na na na na na na na ♪ and everybody go uh!

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starbucks is now pushing politicians to avoid the massive spending cuts due to go into effect six dames from now. the ceo is asking employees at the d.c. area stores to write "come together" on their coffee cups tomorrow and friday. in a letter to employees made public today, shuttle says rather than be bystanders, you and your customers have an opportunity and i believe we all have a responsibility, to send our elected officials a respectful but potent message urging them to come together to find common ground. in an interview with pop wi harlow schultzle talked about the consequences of not reaching a deal. >> let's talk about the people

left behind. there's still about 13, 14 million people in america sill unemployed and we have the overhang of $16 trillion of debt. consumer confidence has not been very good for a long time, and we still have a high level of unemployment. first, i would say that the people who are -- who need it the most are going to be affected in a significant way because there's just no hope and opportunity for them to have any degree of confidence in the future of america if, in fact, we do not get a compromise from the republicans and the democrats. now, segmenting the rest of the population, i think that the financial community and businesses at large are in a very uncertain place waiting for some signal. you're certainly seeing that in the stock market, and i would say that the unintended consequences of every day between now and the end of the month becomes harder and harder for people to make discretionary

decisions, whether it's a christmas present, a trip, an investment, all of these things are coupled with the level of uncertainty and the unintended consequences that are being produced. i would say one of three things are going to happen, and this is nothing new. other people have said it. either nothing is going to happen, which would be really disappointing, either we get a band-aid solution, which in my view would be equally discouraging because we haven't solved the problem, or hopefully the president and republican congress will give america what they deserve, which is a christmas present. we could all get on with our lives and restore some degree of confidence in washington. >> reporter: does the solution have to include raising rates, or as republicans argue is closing loopholes and limiting deductions enough? that's the line in the sand the president is drawing. >> well, you know, you and i

have talked over the years about specific issues, and i've -- i don't want to dodge the question. i'm not a policymaker. i'm not a politician. i would frame it this way. that in any negotiation there has to be a degree of compromise, and in this situation we obviously need incremental revenue and need to address entitlements. i think if people would get in the room and leave their ego behind and not be so skewed towards the party but be so sensitive through the lens of the american people, we will have an agreement. >> he seems a little bit optimistic. when we talk about the skwauld fiscal cliff, we talk about tril yons of dollars here. what does it mean for your pay economic and personal finances. here's some consequences if there's no deal. one of the first places you might feel it is in your

paychex. the payroll tax holiday expires. that means $83 less per month if you make $50,000 a year. the bush era tax cuts expire, and it's not clear what the tax rate would be. but the average household would see a tax increase of $3500 a year. that is according to the fax policy center. what about the 2012 tax returns? well, there would no fix for the alternative minimum tax, and that would delay tax filings. as many as 100 million people might not be able to file their return until late march. that means tax refunds could also be delayed, and some major tax credits would expire as well including the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit. from a mars landing to a deep water dive, scientific and technical breakthroughs this past year were amazing. here's john zarrella with a look at the top 10.

>> at number 10 a revolutionary camera called litro. >> it's such a powerful technology breakthrough, that this will forever change how we take and experience pictures. >> it captures the entire light field ail louse the focus and perspective to be changed after its been taken. number nine, nasa's dawn spacecraft sent back staggers data about an as troid called vesta. it appears it went through stages of planetary evolution. it's one of of a kind in the solar system. >> what's clear to us is vesta appears to be the only intact protoplanet left. >> you may have heard the term god's particle. the european nuclear research station claims to have found it. why is it a big deal? think big bang theory. >> this part we think was, in fact, a particle like this was

the fuse that set off the explosion which created the universe. >> researchers found after the analyzing data from protons collisions from a particle accelerator. at 7 a leap of faith. felix baumgartner's record-breaking jump. he broke the free fall record and sound barrier jumping from 128,000 feet in a revolutionary space suit. >> i know the whole world is watching now, and i wish the world could see what i see. >> six, young children dying at an alarming rate in cambodia and with an alarming speed. the pathogens were unusually adressive. sanjay gupta was there when the mystery was solved. >> they found those organisms in conjunction with these kids getting troids probably led to such an aggressive course. >> number five, spacex became the first commercial company to

rendezvous and dock at the international space station. private companies taking over for nasa sending cargo and humans to the station. number four, scientists found the great barrier reef, the largest in the world, is in trouble. >> half of the coral has disappeared the last 27 years. that's a momentum change. >> scientists attribute the loss to storm damage. at number three we go to the pacific and the deepest part of any ocean in the film with famous film director and explorer james cameron. first, test dives. >> about five major system failures prevented me from going on. >> in a submersible cameron went down 35,000 feet. number two, melting ice. scientists using satellite and aircraft data have found the greenland and antarctic ice sheets are losing three times as

much ice as 20 years ago. giant rifts appeared in places like antarctic's pine island glaci glacier. combined they contribute to 1 lsh 5 of all sea level rides in the past 20 years. the number one is called seven minutes of terror. the rover curiosity survived a harrowing ride through the martian atmosphere in a landing meltd never attempted prompting an outpouring of emotion from the nasa team. skurs at the is hunting for signatures of past life, water, carbon, methane. if it finds any, curiosity might well be the number one again next year. john zarrella, cnn, miami. join us saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern as my colleague, don lemon, counts down all the stories that captured our attention in 2012. international adoptions can take years and thousands of dollars, but now russia might leave a number of americans in

limbo. a bill passed by parliament would ban u.s. adoptions. ice re. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind. real people with our new 15 under $15 menu. oh my goodness... oh my gosh, this looks amazing... [ male announcer ] 15 entrees under $15. it's our new maine stays! like chicken with wine sauce or bacon wrapped shrimp. try 15 under $15 and sea food differently. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved

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americans trying to adopt children from russia might be told crushing news. those adoptions may not go through. a law banning all americans from adopting from russia has passed in parliament. it's considered a payback of sorts for an american law passed two weeks ago to put financial reconstructions of russians accused of human rights violations and bans them from traveling to the united states. joining us to talk about it is adam partman. adam, thank fs for joining us. a lot of people are emotional about this subject. i want to give our viewers a sense in what this means in terms of the overall impact. the state department says over the last 20 years americans have adopted more than 60,000 children from russia, more than any other country. they talk about the need, too. they say there are more than 750,000 orphans in russia.

in the united states a little more than 58,000 children live in group homes or state institutions. so, adam, what kind of impact could this have on families who want to adopt or are in the process of aup dopting russian children? >> obviously, if what they say is going to happen really happens, those families are not going to be able to adopt the kids, even if all the legal processes already have been in place. much more important, let's focus on the children. what it means is those children will remain institutionalized, which is not a good place for any kid, rather than be in families. >> why is it you have in russia and some statistics say that special needs kids in russian orphanages, as much as 9% of the 956 russian children adopted last year, those children with disabilities, why is it so difficult for them in their home country? >> well, most countries other

than the u.s. do not have an adoption culture. the u.s. adopts more children in all sorts of adoptions than the rest of the world combined. so it's not part of -- blood ties are important in most countries. our countries are different now. there are aadoption cultures building in some countries, but russia isn't there yet. for the children who don't get homes domestically or internationally, for those who do not get homes as a result of the bill, they will remain in institutions where their prospects are dim. >> why do you say their prospects are dim? what is the life? what does life look like for a young russian child in an orphanage? >> again, it's not just russia. orphanag orphanages, institutions are not good places for children. children who live in institutional care, temporary care lose iq points every day and suffer from developmental delays and have psychological issues that develop as a result

of institutionalization. this is research that shows that the sun is shining. kids grow up well in families loved and tended to, not in institutions where they are among tens, hundreds, thousands of children being tended to by very, very few people. >> explain to us what happened, what actually took place. we know there was quite a backlash of an american adoption here, if you will, back in 2010. it really took a dramatic turn when russians saw this woman from tennessee who actually sent her adopted son back to russia saying that he was violent and too difficult to handle. a lot of people in russia really thought that was very insensitive and in some ways look to this ban as something that is a good thing. >> that is what got a lot of people's attention. it got worldwide attention. it was an aberration. it was a man bites dog story, and i think people were justifiably horrified by it.

the reaction has really been to something broader. there have been about 20, we think, children who have suffered great harm or even died in their adoptive families in the u.s. kids who are adopted from russia. so this bill aims to say, we don't want that anymore. you're not taking care of our children. as you pointed out, 60,000 children have been adopted from russia. we cannot excuse one, not one fatalities, not one mistreatment of a child. but if that's what we want to do, we need to deal with that problem in isolation from the bigger issue of adopting children from russia. if you ban it altogether, that means the rest of those 60,000 stay in an institution. that, again, i have too keep coming back to the children. that's not good for anyone. so, yes, attention was focused as a result of that case, and many others. we need to deal with those problems and there is a bilateral treaty with russia to deal with those problems. this is not the solution.

>> how do you respond to russian officials that are working to encourage more domestic adoptions? you bring up the point that institutionalizing children is not a good thing, but they want to encourage russian families to adopt their own children. that is their priority? >> i think it would be great. if they have a plan b where all the kids coming here or to any other kuntz, if there's a plan b to have them get real good families domestically, wonderful. let's keep going. but there are by some estimates 700, 750,000 children in orphanages and institutions in russia. they don't have that many families stepping up. so if children are at the core of the issue, absolutely. develop that adoption culture. but meanwhile don't let the kids suffer in institutions. get them into families somewhere. >> all right. adam partman, we appreciate your time. we're talking to a family tomorrow about this very issue

that impacts them in a very personality way. adam, thanks again. appreciate it. in india barricades have been been taken in the immune commuter district. they're running again and the violent protests are you understands. water cannon trucks are standing by in case demonstrations flare up light they did over the weekend. it was over the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a public bus. some protestors were calling for the death penalty for her attackers. others want better protection for indian women. the rape survivor is still in the hospital, and doctors say her condition has improved only slightly. egypt's president morsi has signed a decree to put his country's new constitution now in effect. voters approved the document, which was backed by the president and the muslim brotherhood by will 2-1. opponents say it doesn't protect the rights egyptians fought for in last year's revolution.

the u.s. state department says the constitution needs more support across egypt. creating a new constitution is a key step in the transition to democracy. it sets the stage for a new parliament to be formed. china, one of the world's fastest growing economies and it shows. look at this. a sleek, new high speed rail link. it is opening today. it's connecting beijing, the capital with the country's bustling commercial center. that is more than 1400 miles to the south. that's roughly the same distance from boston to miami. it's the world's longest high speed railway. it slashes the travel time from 22 hours to just 8. the tickets starting at $138, a little pricey for the average chinese citizen. some say it's cheaper and faster to fly. a 13-year-old boy from the philippines is one of the recipients of this year's international children's peace prize.

he took the horrible experience of being on the streets, turned it into an opportunity to help many others. we'll show you his extraordinary journey. [ nyquil bottle ] hey tylenol, you know we're kinda like twins. [ tylenol bottle ] we are? yeah we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. and i relieve nasal congestion. overachiever. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone.

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the gift of giving. a boy in the philippines knows what it's like to feel like that. one day his luck and life completely changed. take a look. >> at age 5 he was living on the

streets in philippines just outside manila in the philippines. he survived by skavageing in the dumpl and begging forty waflt he drank water for canals and slept in an open tomb in a cemetery. a life without joy changed forever by a horrible accident that threatened to make it even worse. >> one evening when i was waiting for the garbage truck to arrive, smbl push med into a pile of burching tires. by back and my arm got burned. >> those his recovery was punctuated by extreme pain, he called it a baptism by fire. he was rescueded by an activist who was his guardian. >> that was the first day in his life that he felt loved, accepted, and cared for. >> on his seventh birthday he

helped him obtain his birth certificate so he could attend school, but his special birthday wish was to give, not just receive. >> my birthday is also to give he children, street children the things that i received. we started hope gifts, the gifts of hope like all the toys, the candies, and the sleep wear. >> he passed them out to those who shared his flight. that was six years ago. now he's got his own organization championing community children that he says has helped 10,000 street kids supplying them with toothbrushes to sandals to snacks. his efforts have won worldwide recognition. this past september he was awarded the international children's peace prize by south africa's arch bishop desmond tutu. more than 150,000 homeless children live without families on the streets of ma nil lachlt

he presented the report to the philippines president. he was inspired by the work of ef ron pan of florida who was chosen cnn's 2009 hero of year for bringing education it to mani manila's street children through mobile push cart classrooms. he hopes to be an inspiration it to others. >> i'm representing the street children to give them hope. >> he's one special boy. you may remember one of the 2011 nominees for the children's peace prize, malala yousufzai for supporting educational rights. she's still recovering from that attack in a british hospital. his film bringing the santa claus, the sandeman and easter bunny to life on the big screen. we're talk to the director of "the rise of the guardians." when you have diabetes...

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peter ramsey is making history on the big screen. he's the first african-american to direct a major animated film. his movie "rise of the guardians" has earned a golden globe nomination. >> it's your mark, your major mark. >> yeah. you have to pinch yourself and look around and remember, oh, my god. i'm working on those characters. >> i'm santa claus.

>> the easter bunny. >> these around the childhood heroes. >> no, they're not. >> you described santa has a hell's angel with a heart of gold. >> that's him. he's not a jolie full of belly little guy. he lives at the north pole, the toughest place on world. all these guardians represent very specific things. hope, dreams, memories, fun want. >> the peter ramsey story. >> it's everybody's story. >> this is going to be epic. >> duo you remember the first time going to the movies. >> i was around four years old and it was "snow white." i'm sure i fell asleep before it was over, but it was magical. >> that stuck with you? >> that really stuck with me. these giant images from the screen and the emotion hits you. that feeling, the emotion is what really set me on the path. >> a lot of times it's hard to dream bigger than what you see every day. >> i had a head full of dreams.

it was like how do you go the step of making dreams into reality. even though i grew up 5, 6 miles from hollywood, i had no idea real people make movies. there was no uncles who were actors or directors or producers knot lig that. >> you were the ramseys from south central? >> it's a north pole you try to get into. it's a dream of yours. >> i think we both conveyed to him that he could do better than just people in the area that we were living. >> he was always a busy, inquisitive kid and wanted to ask questions all the times that i did not always know the answer to. we had books in the house. >> i knew he was going to be something special. >> yeah, yeah. oh, yeah, that's great. >> i get the impression that the gravity of what you have aachieved, being the first african-american filmmaker to direct a big budget animated film, didn't really set in at first. >> no. i don't think so it did. it wasn't until there had been an article written about me in a

newspaper, and i looked up and i saw tears in my dad's eyes. it all came back to me. it does kind of matter. >> it's more than work. >> yeah. i've been talking to a lot of kids at schools. you can see it. they'll never have that thing of saying nobody like me could do that. that's the most rewarding thing of all. >> now they say somebody like me did that. >> exactly. >> ramsey will learn how his film fares the in the golden globe race january 13th. it's the day after christmas. we'll look at a few things people are doing today. in the uk and p many other parts of world people celebrate boxing day, much like black friday in the united states. retailers offer extreme discounts. crowds of up people fill the streets and stores today hoping to take advantage of those sa s sales. some brave folks in the czech republic took on a freezing river during the traditional christmas swim. the temperature there was 46 degrees fahrenheit.

i'm suzanne malveaux. the renewed debate over guns in america playing out is sever fronts today. we'll get right to it. it sfwens fied after the horrific shooting in a newtown, connecticut school that left 6 adults and 20 first graders dead. today los angeles is holding a gun buy-back program. it's usually in may but the mayor decided to move it up after the newtown shootings. >> people want to do something, particularly after the newtown tragedy. now this latest tragedy where two firefighters were shot and killed. they want to act. they're tired of waiting on the congress and our legislatures to do something. they feel like there's too much talk and not enough action, and this is an opportunity for people to act it to get rid of

guns they don't use that they don't need that too often are stoelden. in fact they're used in an accident. >> the newspaper is facing a backlash after it published the names and addresses of gun permit holding in new york's westchester and rock lynn counties. they published an interactive map on the website. it allows readers to zoom in on red dots that show which residences have gun licenses. they say it's in response to the massacre in connecticut, but many readers are infuriated. turn in a gun, get a gift card in return. that's the deal today in los angeles. paul is joining us with more on the city's gun buy-back program. paul, i understand that you can even get like a grocery gift card here. how does it work? >> reporter: i'll show you exactly what you get. you get a card from ralph's, a grocery sfor in southern california. if you turn in a rifle or

pistol, you get 100 doll dpol in groceries. if you turn in an assault ep, you get $200. right now suzanne it's extremely busy here. this is only going on for about an hour, and so far 200 guns have been turned in, about ten assault weapons. if you look over my shoulder, you can see a whole batch of rifles in a couple of the trash bins behind me, in the trash cans behind me. you see the rifle stocks sticking out. there's about 40 cars in line ready to hand back guns. this is popular because of anonymity and there are no photographs taken. they do not take down license plate numbers. it's not a sting. many guns so far this morning being distributed poured into bins here and people getting grocery carts you aalluded to earlier. >> paul, that's impressive there when you look at athat. i know they're not asking any questions, but has anybody told

you why or how they have these rifles and guns just laying around they want to get rid of? >> yeah. a couple of things are aat play here. number one is safety. a lot of people feel they have guns in the house and seen the recent incidents where the wrong people get ahold of the guns, they're referring to newtown, or they're worried about kids getting ahold of the guns. accidents are at play there. also some people found they had unregistered guns. he realized two riles weren't registered. a lot of people are reacting to what happened recently across the country, and many are shack i canning their heads to make sure they don't show get linked to the next accident or tragedy because the guns are in the hands of wrong pim oor children, suzanne. >> this is a problem usually held in may every year but moved up after the school shooting in connecticut. how are people responding to the fact that this is something that

is happening much more immediately now in the community? >> reporter: the mayor said they wanted concrete action. they're reacting well this morning in the san fernando valley. it's a suburb of los angeles with a million people. it's extremely brisk. i think even the organizers of the event didn't think this many people would come out so soon, because it's the day after christmas. it started at 9:00 local time, and they've only been open for an hour. there's a long line down the street of people ready to turn in guns. so the reaction has been strong. >> seems very successful. paul, thank you very much. we appreciate it. there was a disturbing letter that was left behind by a gunman who shot and killed two volunteer firefighters in upstate new york. william spangler wrote what he likes doing best, and he says, quote, killing people. two other firefighters were seriously wounded when they showed up to put out a fire on christmas eve. our poppy harlow is in new york with the latest. this is a strange story. it certainly seemed like this guy was trying to set up these

firefighters and then just opened fire. what have you learned today? >> we know that it was according to police an ambush, a trap set up, suzanne, by this man. i want to tell you a little bit more detail we're learning about whim yal spangler, the shooter here. he is dead. he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after killing firefighters and injuring two others. what we know is he has a long criminal history. he was convicted in 1981 of killing his grandmother. he was in jail until 1998 and was on parole until 2006. he had a major, major record. what we know that is disturbing is how many guns he had. he had three different guns on him at the time, a revolver and shotgun and semi-automatic bushmaster .223 caliber rifle. that's disturbing. he shouldn't have any weapon being released from jail. i want to play some sound if we have it from the press

conference that the police chief there held. we don't have that sound, but i want to read you what he said regarding that note because a note was found, suzanne. it said in part, quote, i still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood i can burn down and do what i like doing best, killing people. that's very disturbing. he lit fire to his own home. we know now that that killed his sister, cheryl spangler, in the home. police believe they found the remains of her body as of yesterday. she was deemed missing, and the really confusing part is they don't know of any motive. there's no motive that they could read from that note whatsoever. the police chief went on to say later yesterday he was, quote, equipped to go to war and kill innocent people. >> and according to that letter, certainly sounds like that was his intention. poppy, do we know about the family, the memorials taking

place for these firefighters? >> they started to take place last night on christmas. obviously, this happened on christmas eve. we have video to play you in the town of webster new york. you see the fellow firefighters there sa the luting those they lost and those injured and also a candlelight vigil was held later last night. people in town coming out in support of these men that died. i want to show you some photos of those first. first, those two injured, joseph hoff stetter and theodore scardino. theodore has the mustache, joseph hoff stetter is the young when right above and to the right of him. those that dies you see there on the corner of your screen, lieutenant mike chipirini and tom katrutra. he was a volunteer firefighter, also a police officer. he was named firefighter of the

year in his -- by his whole department. an incredibly sad story that keeps develop upping. >> poppy harlow, thank you so much. a little later this hour, we'll tell you about a newspaper that triggered a fierce debate by publishing an interactive map that shows where people with gun licenses live. talk about too close for comfort. a massive funnel cloud forms and heads straight for mobile, alabama. this was one of the 28 tornadoes that spun out of a storm system that tore up towns from east texas to the gulf coast. that happened on christmas day. a tornado touched down on top of a historic high school in mobile. did demolished outdoor classrooms, ripped the roof off the main school building. houses a few hundred feet away weren't damaged at all. amazingly, nobody was hurt around the school.

sam jones is the mayor of mobile, alabama and joins us live this morning. tell us how your residents are doing today. >> reporter: they're doing fine today. we had a lot of people displaced yesterday, a lot of property damage behind me. this is the historic murphy high school and their athletic building destroyed. we had a lot of trees down. 500 on the public right-of-ways, probably 1500 on private property. a lot of that blocked our main arteries. we expect them all open by 3:00 today. >> amazingly no one was injured around the school. do you have a sense, tally of those in your community of who were injured lost their lives. is this an event that took place and miraculously everyone surviv survived? >> we're very fortunate, everyone survived. no life lost as a result of this tornado. >> mayor, what do the residents of your community need today?

clearly, this is something that happened on christmas. it was something that people did not expect. i imagine that there are probably pretty shocked and need some help. >> this up happened we expect

all of the main arteries to be open by 3:00 today. >> all right. mayor, we are so happy that nobody was actually injured or killed in that, that it was an unbelievable storm that took place with the tornadoes. we appreciate that, and we certain wish your residents a good holiday as best as it can be, thank you mayor. >> alexandria steele is watching the storm. >> one thing we know after listening to the mayor also, this was the greatest dris mass day tornado outbreak on record. it was substantial. poor mobile only five days prior that other tornado. tornadoes are not done with this system. this has seriously long legs. we have dealt with it for days but we have a couple more hours for severe weather. here it is. right now in eastern north and south carolina we have tornado

watches posted until 5:00. that means conditions are ripe for tornadoes to develop, and just four minutes ago at the top of the hour, we had tornado warnings posted, two in eastern north carolina but they have expired. from these lines along 95, so driving 95 in north carolina really a perilous scenario along i-40 as well. we have until 5:00 with that watch. here's the snowy side. the snow sweet spot where we see 6 and 12 and 15 inches of snow, along the i-70 from indianapolis, the north of 70 through cleveland and then toward buffalo and syracuse. that's where the heaviest snow will be. you can see what we've got, of course. severe weather is on the move, but we have certainly seen an awful lot the snow. that will continue, but you know, wefr blizzard warnings part and parcel to, a, the snow. but it's the winds. looking at indy,

33-mile-per-hour wind gusts towards virginia, nashville and cleveland. you see the scope of this thing, and these are the current wind gusts. this is where the blizzard wanders are delineated in red. it's indiana and into ohio and through i-80 in ohio. that's where we see the snow customed with 50-mile-per-hour winds. in the northeast we have winter storm warnings as well. we see an awful lot of snow, 2 feet plus in upstate new york. what we see at the big airports at new york and newark and washington. the heavy rain with the winds will slow travel tonight and tomorrow at the airportshere as well. that's not the snow. that's the winds. winds and airplanes certainly do not mix. >> you have to be patient there. just get through the travel. thank you. appreciate it, alexandria. six days is how long congress has to make a deal to keep your taxes going up. by how much we're going to tell you after the break.

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president obama is heading back from his holiday vacation in hawaii early in case there is a last-minute deal. the senate returns from christmas break tomorrow. house leaders say they're prepared to call members back if there is an agreement. joining us to talk about this is john avalon. he's a senior political columnist for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." we're here again. it's like groundhog day. we don't think there's going to be any kind of grand bargain at this point. what are the short-term measures? what's the best thing to hope for in the next six days?

>> the best thing we can hope for is they get back to work again, suzanne. from all reports leadership isn't even talking to each other at this point. so it really is urgent. with six days left, the clock is ticking and the countdown is going on. this is not something abstract on the washington level. people need to appreciate if the country goes over the fiscal cliff, it will impact the bottom line as well. money out of their pocket in the form of tax hikes. >> we have stop gap measures. there are some things they can do. what are they at least talking about? >> the president said in his friday press conference that he was hoping for not a grand bargain but a piecemeal. let's come up to an agreement so that the vast majority of americans don't have their taxes hiked and unemployment insurance is extended for 2 million americans who it is set to expire on and we can deal with fundamental tax reform in the new year. the hope for a grand bargain looks like it is too big to hope

for in the next few days, but not having taxes go up on 98% of americans, that should be do-able. making sure that 2 million americans aren't kicked off the welfare rolls should be do-able. >> john, remind us what the consequences are if nothing happens in six days. >> suzanne, this is important for folks to appreciate how it impacts their wallet and bottom line. according to the tax policy center, if you made $37,000 last year, your taxes go up $3,000. if nothing is done to avert the fiscal cliff. if you make $104,000, doing pretty well, you see your taxes go up $6200. if you make $400,000 a year, you see taxes go up over $9,000. that's overnight. the bush tax cuts sunset if we don't do anything to variety the fiscal cliff. this is something that the president and republicans agree on. they agree 98% of the americans shouldn't have taxes raised, but

that 2% disagreement brings us to the edge of the fiscal cliff. >> the ceo of starbucks says, hey, you know what? let's write on our coffee cups "come together." do you think anybody will pay attention to that in washdz? >> you know what? anything and everything helps. just merely spreading the message america is watching and waiting for congress to act to find a way to reason together, that's an important act, and everyone doing their part can do, i say good on him. we need to send this message to washington and make sure it isn't settled. we'll go deeper into this tonight at 7:00 as well. this is urnlggent. the clock is ticking, suzanne. many american families have adopted children from russia, but that might actually be ending thanks tie controversial bill passed in russia parliament. because your daughty wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind

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weights among kids. americans trying to adopt children from russia could be told crushing news. those adoptions might not go through, and here's why. a law banning all americans from adopting in russia has been approved by russia's parliament. president putin is expected to sign it. it's considered a payback of american law that puts financial restrictions on russians accused of human rights violations and bans them from traveling to the united states. the u.s. state department says that over the last 20 years americans have adopted more than 60,000 children from russia, more than any other country, and that the need is great. there are more than 650,000 orphans in russia. in the united states there's more than 58,000 children living in state institutions or group homes. earlier i talked to adam with the donaldson adoption institute and i asked him, what does this ban mean for those pending

adoptions? here's what he said. >> if what they say is going to happen really happens, those families are not going to be able to adopt the kids even if all the legal processes have been in place. much more important, let's focus on the children. what it means is those children will remain institutionalized, which is not a good place for any kid, rather than be in families. >> why is it that you have in russia and there are some statistics that say that special needs kids in russian orphanages, as much as 9% of the 956 russian children adopted last year, those children with disabilities, why is it so difficult for them in their home country? >> well, most countries other than the u.s. do not have an adoption culture. the u.s. adopting more children in all sorts of adoptions than the rest of the world combined. blood ties are important in most countries. our country is different now. there are adoption cultures

little in some countries, but russia isn't there yet. again, for the children who do not get homes domestically or internationally, homes are good, for those who do not get homes as a result of this bill, they are going to remain in institutions where their prospects are dim. >> why do you say their prospects are dim? what is the life? what does life look like for a young russian child in an orphanage? >> it's not just russia. orphanages, institutions, that's what they are, are not good places for children. children who lives in institutional care, temporary care lose iq pointds every day and suffer from developmental delays and have psychological issues that develop as a result of institutionalization this is research. it shows that the sun is shining. kids grow up well in families loved and tended to, not in institutions where they are among tens, hundreds, thousands of children who are being tended to by very, very few people.

>> if putin signs this anti-adoption measure, it will go into effecten january 1st and tomorrow on the program we'll be joined by a young woman, a russian adoptee herself who shares her personal thoughts on this proposed ban. do you have the right to know if your neighbor owns a gun? well, a newspaper in new york published the names, the addresses of people who own one. let the backlash begin. and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

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fitting name, right? like black friday in the united states. retailers cut their prices hoping to entice shoppers to look for a good deal willing to spend their holiday cash. they're just running. analysts expect that british shoppers spend almost $5 billion today. in the u.s. not good news for retailers. early figures show it's the worst holiday sales performance in three years. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. why so bad this year? >> first of all, the fiscal cliff issues were hanging on shoppers' minds. that's one reason. you know, you look at whether or not the after christmas shopping will help. it will in some ways. in many ways, though, people are walking into stores using gift cards. in fact the national retail federation says 80% of shoppers bought a gift card. that's almost $30 billion worth. those are counted when they're sold and not redeemed. if you're a retailer, most

people wind up spending more in the store, so that's a good thing for the retailer if they spend more than that's on the gift cards. those after christmas sales can help a bit to help the retailers out, suzanne. >> i bought the gift cards and received gift cards, so i might be going back, too. how does that impact overall sales and how they measure all of this? >> returns do have a big effect on sales numbers, and they wind up eating into profit for a lot of retailers. they say almost 11% of holiday gifts are returned, and that amounts to billions of dollars. on the other hand returns could end up being a good thing, too, because some people will go in and exchange for something more expensive or they could buy more stuff. overall after christmas sales should help, but the effect may wind up being limited aa bit by returns and gift cards. suzanne. >> all right. we won't tell our relatives which gift we're returning and which one we're keeping, right?

there's always that regifting that happens. thank you as always. here's other stories we're watching today. that was a snowmaker plowing eastward. if you're in new england, pennsylvania, all the way to south carolina, get ready for high winds, lots of snow. forecasters say possible tornadoes as well. former major league baseball play he andruw jones is free on bond after being arrested and charged with battery. authorities say the former atlanta braves outfielder was involved in a domestic dispute with his wife. since leaving the braves, he has played with several teams include the yankees. he signed a one-year deal with a japanese baseball team. turn in a gun, get a gift card for groceries. that's the deal in los angeles today. the city is holding the annual gun buy-back program. usually held in may, but the mayor decided to move it up after the school shooting in newtown, connecticut, that killed six adults and 20

children. people in l.a. can turn in their guns today no questions asked. a newspaper has triggered a fierce backlash by publishing an interactive map showing where people with gun licenses live. josh leves is here to talk about the map as well as the fallout. a lot of people are watching this story, because they were quite shocked in the beginning and it was surprising the reaction to it as well. >> yeah, very interesting what's going on with this story. from the very beginning let me stet this up. this is not the first time they have published who gun owners and permit holders may be in the certain area. this is the age of social media and technology where everyone has access to the information and share it. this has gone wild online. let me tell you what we're looking at here. the website is lohud.com. it serving part of the new york area. they mapped in westchester and

rockland counties information on gun permit holders. it doesn't mean each home has one, but each of these circles -- i won't click them here to show you my journalistic point here. the fury is about if you zoom in on any of these and you you click on a circle, you get information who the person is and what the address is. that helps anyone who wants to know who is a gun permit holder in the area. they have a second map people might not have seen as much. this is the blue here in another county. they say the blue represents the people who have updated their -- the permit holders that center purchased a firearm or updated their permit in the past five years in rockland county. so they got some information from different counties. now, this has set off a ton of anger online. so much so that the newspaper itself is talking about it. first, i'll show you a few quotes among the thousands on the website itself of this newspaper. this is crazy. i hope you lose readers. a valuable piece of information

for criminals. totally out of line. folks, that's just us collecting four out of thousands of angry quotes right there. let me tell you what the newspaper is saying. first of all, they emphasize they did not publicize any secret information. they're standing by what's public information they got through the freedom of information act. take a look at a quote they put out here. they say we were surprised when we weren't able to obtain information on what kinds and how many weapons people in our market own. had we been able to obtain those records, we would have published them. they wanted to publish more information, and they said in the wake of newtown their readers are sbbed in who their neighborhood does or does not va gun or may have a permit for one. so this is continuing to go wild. big story on cnn.com. people weigh in there as well. >> i understand they can get information on handgun licenses but not semi-automatic weapons and heavy-duty weapons. do we know why? >> this is interesting. the paper said that they reached out to county clerk officials

and they're looking for more information they were given. what we know is it's pistol licenses when you look at that red map, i'm glad you mentioned that the red one is for pistol licenses. they were surprised as well about what kinds of information were and were not availability and the clerks said they don't think certainly things should be public information. amid the debate, there's the debate about public information. >> josh, it's interesting because some people are coming back and making the point. they're saying we know a lot about our neighbors and we know how much they pay for homes and taxes. they fill out all kinds of information you can learn publicly, but some of these gun owners feel like they're treated as sex offenders, that they're responsible people with licenses who have done nothing wrong but feel stigmatized in some way. >> if you think about it, usually this map is because there was a crime committed in that area or because there's maybe a registered sex offender there. people see the visual of this experience, and they say that. since we're having that

conversation, we went searching through the comments on cnn.com to see if anybody supported this at all. someone said if you're a gun owner, it's a matter of public record. i have a car and house and there's no secret. i don't expect a right to privacy for these things. amid all the angry people a few here and there support the idea. >> we'll follow the story. thank you very much. really appreciate it. coming up next this is a sound of gunfire ringing out in syrian neighborhoods. the country's military police chief now has reportedly defe defected to the other side.

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in syria the military police chief has defected from assad's government. this video shows a man identified as this official. i want you to watch. >> translator: i announce my defection from the regime, and i'm joining the peoples revolution because the syrian military is an armed gang this kill and destroy the cities and villages carrying out massacres against the innocent civilian population that came out demanding freedom and dignity. >> this is significant. it would be one of the highest level defections in the 21 months of fighting. the prime minister as well as a general close to al assad have

left the regime in recent months. i want to bring in our reporter in beirut, lebanon. mohammed, give us a sense. this is a pretty big fish for somebody to be leaving,nd i imagine he has valuable information as well being somebody part of the military police. >> reporter: that's right, suzanne. he identifies himself as a major general, that he's the chief of military police in syria. we spoke earlier with rebel free syrian army spokespeople. they said this was the man he claimed to be. the free syrian army helped to shuttle him to safety. it was a very difficult journey getting him from inside syria into neighboring turkey. it took far longer than they thought it would, and they were willing to help. other military officials wanted to defect for a certain amount of time longer. yes, as you said, if this turns out to be true and this man is as high-ranking as he said he is, this is a big blow to the

regime. there's more and more high level defections the last several months. the fact more and more are coming seems to suggest he's losing more of a grip of power in syria. this is he not what they want out there when you have the u.n. and arab league enjoy trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution. if this is true and he defected and he's as high ranking as he said he is, he could have key intelligence to give insight into the inner workings of the regime. suzanne. >> i want to talk about the impact and what it means for the people there in that country. we're talking about the last couple of days you have 365 people who have been killed in the country. that is on top of more than 100 people who were killed in an air attack sunday on a local bakery. you've got high-level people dpeekting. does this make any difference in terms of what is taking place he on the ground and whether or not people are still going to be --

continue to be killed. >> it's a great question, suzanne. it hasn't made any impact as of yet, but the rebels told us today that this is a coup for them. this is something that gives them a morale boost that proves to them that more and more military officials want to defect and morale is low on the side of the syrian regime. they count that in their favor. the last few days we spoke about the death tolls staggering day after day, well over 100 each day the last four days. bombings of two different bakeries and scores of women and children and families killed in different parts of country from the opposition activists we speak with. while this is good news for the rebels, on the ground it hasn't changed at all deterioratines me by the hour, suzanne. >> it is a symbolic victory. there is fighting that continues as that civil war inside of the country tears apart of the fabric of that society. we'll have more after a break.

tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. welcome to chevy's year-end event. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. get the best offer of the year -- 0% apr financing for 60 months plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance. hurry. bonus cash ends january 2nd.

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happy. you're right, a lot of people ask themselves how do we turn our old gadgets and how do we get the cash back? lots of ways to do this. let's start with one of the most basic ways. list your items on sites like craigslist or ebay. if you go that route, you want to know just how much you're going to list those items for. there are a lot of great sites for them. one is calmed primeonomics.com. you can know how much to sell it for. your device could be a couple years old or worn a little bit. you can see how much to get for it. >> yeah. i he mean, it seems like we've -- things happen so quickly, we have these old devices that we could get rid of. tell us about the gift cards here. i understand that 81%, right, shoppers either buy a gift card for the year, if you don't want the gift card you can swap it for cash. how does that work? >> sure. a lot of us get gift cards, and

we don't know what we want to do with them. some of us want to use them. you know, you have this plastic cash lying around, and there's sites that will give you cash back for the money that you didn't spend. there's a site a lot of people are using called giftcards.com. they will buy back your unwanted gift cards and send you a money trafr through pay pal. they're going to take a cut of that, so it's not completely seamless. a lot of sites are out there called gift cacardsgranny. it's he a strange name that helps you scan through sites and find the best deal. you can use the balance on your gift card examine contribute to the holiday spirit. a site called plastic jungle lets you donate it to red cross or autism speaks. i will say there's one more it that plastic jungle lets you -- they have a partnership with united airlines so you can trade

your gift cards for miles. you can check that out if you're a traveler. >> that's great. i'm glad they have that flexibility. imt not a big shopper. that would be great to give it to charity and that's nice, too. we're going to head to the mall and do some shopping, i guess. he danced into the record books. we all know who he is by now. south korean rapper psy, viral had 1 million hits on youtube. did he make the list of our top entertainment stories of 2012? dy wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

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it is that time of year we're counting down to our top entertainment stories of 2012. here's nischelle turner with the rundown. >> celebrity breakups and the tragic death of a singing icon, just a few of the topics that had people talking in the world of show business. here's a look at cnn's top ten entertainment news stories from 2012. ♪ call me maybe >> the song was almost inescapable. carlie rey jepsen's "call me maybe" earning her grammy nominations and re-enactments online, like this video posted by the u.s. olympic swim team. the force is now strong with disney. in a move that caught many by surprise, the star wars franchise's fiercely independent creator george lucas sold his company to the entertainment

empire for more than $4 billion. what's more, disney's announced plans for three more star wars films. it's the superstar relationship that has hollywood asking are they or aren't they? chris brown, who beat his then girlfriend rihanna in 2009 said in october he's renewed his friendship with the singer but is it more than just friends? song collaborations and vague tweets from rihanna have suggested otherwise. >> they want to keep everyone guessing and don't want to explain what's going on with their relationship to anyone in the world. >> the jacksons, the family drama turning into one big reality show. >> more turmoil for the jackson family last summer as michael jackson's teenage daughter paris announced on twitter that her grandmother an guardian, katherine jackson, was missing. forcing a judge to suspend her guardianship of michael's three kids. >> katherine jackson is back home. she says she wasn't kidnapped.

>> michael's siblings disputed the claim saying their mother was in arizona under doctor's orders. a judge restored katherine as permanent guardian of michael's children. whether it was a pleasure or guilty pleasure, audiences couldn't turn away from tlc's hit reality show "here comes honey boo boo" about a child beauty pageant contestant and her family. ♪ rapper psy went from a relatively unknown performer to a worldwide phenomenon after his catchy dance tune "gangnam style" hit the web. ♪ the music video featuring the south korean star's song and trademark dance shattered records online, becoming the number one watched video on youtube, with more than 970 million views. but psy's new found fame wasn't without controversy. harsh anti-american remarks he made during a performance in 2004 resurfaced online.

he apologized saying his lyrics were emotionally charged, and resulted from events in the war with iraq. >> new sexual misconduct accusations against the former voice of elmo. >> elmo puppet tear kevin clash was forced to resign from sesame street after being accused of being engaged in sexual relationships with minors. his lawyer says the claims are without merit but he opted to live sesame street after 28 years. twilight stars kristen stewart and robert pattinson were one of the hottest celebrity couples until a highly publicized fling between the actress and the man who directed her in "snow white and the huntsman" rocked hollywood. >> she moved out of the home they shared together. she released a public statement asking robert for forgiveness. >> pattinson apparently did forgive, just in time for the premiere of "the twilight saga"

in november. >> shock waves through the entertainment world. >> after nearly six years of marriage, katie holmes filed for divorce from tom cruise in june, blind siding hollywood's biggest movie star. >> what was so incredible is how katie holmes had everything just so well prepared. >> though holmes asked for full custody of their daughter surrey, the couple eventually settled ammic imicably on the de just two weeks later. >> breaking news of whitney houston's death. >> it was a tragic end to an iconic singer's successful but often troubled career. whitney houston who battled with drugs and alcohol for decades, died february 11th in a hotel bathtub at the age of 48. the night before the grammy awards. houston's death was an accidental drowning with the effects of heart disease and cocaine use as contributing

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visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. hope you had a merry christmas. want to look at how people around the world spent the holidays. >> this is exactly what he does at